VISITORS
"S/T"
 Visitors
was the brain-child of French
producer/composer/genius, and enfant
terrible Jean-Pierre Massiera. In
1974, he recruited a group of
nineteen musicians (most notably jazz
violinist Didier Lockwood, who made an
indelible mark on Magma's 1975 live
album), to record his latest
compositions. Massiera had been
impressed by violin-fronted
jazz-rock acts such as the
Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jean-Luc Ponty.
He decided that his new psychedelic
nightmare should be a concept album
on the theme of extra-terrestrial
contact. It is a truly startling mix of
prog, psych, fusion and
zeuhl elements, with complex
arrangements and grandiose vocals.
Massiera kept the basics: keyboards
(Hammond organ and mini-Moog),
guitar, and rhythm section. That said,
he also insisted on a type of vocal
polyphony, with voices singing
in unison or performing
call-and-response echo effects in the
style of Vanilla Fudge. To push it
further, Massiera peppered the
album with special effects. Samplers
were non-existent, which meant that he
had to transfer
location-recorded “found sounds”
onto the master-tape by hand! The
Visitors album which resulted from this
musical alchemy is a dark and
doom-laden psyched-out masterpiece:
other-worldly, with outer space violins,
burning guitar leads, layers
of lysergic organ, and twisted
choral voices creeping up on you from
behind the shadows. It’s hardly
surprising that it has attained
cult status around the world!
•Masterwork from the fertile mind
of French producer/composer/genius
Jean-Pierre Massiera
•First time vinyl reissue of
1974 doom-laden psyched-out
progressive rarity
•Color insert includes the Visitors
story + an interview
w/Jean-Pierre Massiera by
Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe
Track List:
Side A:
01. Dies Irae (8:10)
02. L’Extra-Aventure De Villas-Boas
(4:27)
03. Terre-Larbour (3:00)
Side B:
01. Flatwoods Story (3:25)
02. Nous (3:27)
03. Visitors (3:43)
04. Le Retour Des Dieux (5:00)
Catalogue number: LION LP-139
UPC: 778578313913
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